For Christmas, 1954, my oldest brother, then serving in the Navy gave me a Hallicrafters S38C. This radio opened a whole new world of SWL and eventually the sound of Amateur Radio operators. I was thrilled by the sound of Radio Australia that I could listen to before school. After purchasing my first QST in Dec 1954, which I still have, I was hooked. With money from a paper route, I purchased and built a Knight Kit T-50 (which I still have) and with the help of a local Elmer got it working. In Feb 1956, I received the call sign, KN8AIM in Struthers, Ohio. After college and stint as a pilot in the Air Force we settled in Seattle, WA where I became W7GTF in 1970. With a Drake TR4C, T4XC, and L4B linear (all of which I still have) I enjoyed lots of HF ham radio in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Activity dulled in the late 90's and into the 00's. With the purchase of an IC-546PRO in 2008, my interested was reignited in this "digital" age. After having sold our family home of 40 yearsin thefall of 2010 and renting a home on Bainbridge Island, WA where there were no outdoor antennas permitted,We decided to move permanentlyto our home in Winthrop, WA.

Summer 2012 got up a used TX455 crank up tower and a G5RV (102 ft) and have a SteppIR 3 el (30/40M option) built but not in the air yet. The Steppir was ereced on the tower on Nov 7, 2012, thanks to the enormous help of Bob Lee, N7AU and Woody Jacobson, N7HCJ.

After 56 years of being a ham, I'm happy to have passed my Amateur Extra License test on Dec 15, 2012.

Here's a view of winter on the river and the 3 el SteppIR